WYD - Social aid projects to focus on youth and families

Salt + Light Media

August 11, 2011
Families and young people will be the beneficiaries of the two social aid projects that will emerge from World Youth Day in Madrid, which starts on Tuesday.
Madrid has been the chosen site for building a residential complex for families at risk of social exclusion. The building will have four floors and 127 homes that will be distributed. Javier Hernando, General Coordinator of Caritas Madrid, stressed that "the current economic situation directly affects employment, housing, and basic needs of families," so this project "gives social visibility to a problem that currently affects many families."
Caritas Madrid already has two buildings of this kind in the city, one opened in 2004 and the other, in 2006. Over the years, these two projects have provided housing to 300 families, about 1,000 people.
In addition, a project in Brazil will create opportunities for the Brazilian youth most affected by poverty and violence. According to Marisa Salazar, Director of Corporate Communications for Caritas Spain, this is a project "of young people, for young people."
Both projects will be presented to the young participants at World Youth Day, encouraging them to assist in their financing through mobile messages and other means.
For his part, Yago de la Cierva, Executive Director of World Youth Day, stressed that "the formative aspect of World Youth Day would be incomplete if we failed to remind young people that their faith remains incomplete unless they help others, unless they are generous, unless they try to do something about changing what they see is wrong."